WHYTE'S IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART 27th September 2021 at 6pm

140 115 Rory Breslin (b.1963) MASK OF THE LEE bronze; (artist’s proof from an edition of 3) signed 35 by 16in. (88.9 by 40.6cm) Excellent condition. One of only two of the River-God masks to be centred on its base is indicative of the central position over the Northern entrance of the Custom House. This head, on the same architectural axis as Anna Liffey stresses Cork’s importance as second city to Dublin. The Mask of the Lee is a larger than life-size adaptation of Edward Smyth’s work on the Northern facade of Dublin’s Customs House. It has the head of a patrician, with wavy hair redolent of strong bow waves with the moustache and beard undulating and rippling in harmony and suggestive of ocean waves. From the forehead rises a large upturned anchor, bound around its stock with a ships rope that is draped across the prows of two mastless ships with truncated bowsprits which are laden with barrels and bales. The anchor symbolises an important harbour and the ships and their cargoes to a sea- going trade of some importance. €5,000-€7,000 (£4,270-£5,980 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot115